In the past week , we 've seen an 80-year-old basketball franchise owner fall under the weight of racist comments about banning blacks and Latinos from his arena , and a 73-year-old Nevada rancher implode after saying blacks would be better off picking cotton .

So , does that mean we are finally coming to the end of all of this ? Once these octogenarian white men from another time die off , will we finally be free of empirical racism in America ?

Doubt it .

I 'm a young guy -- 24 . I went to Howard University in Washington . I hang out with the basketball team -LRB- in fact , I am Howard 's first play-by-play announcer for our home games . Go Bisons ! -RRB- . My friends are of mixed background . We all get along .

But I also see others around me who , on the surface , may roll with a similar crowd , listen to the same music , say the right things , but who are also slowly being infected with the American disease of racial bias .

I hear the subtle signs of racism on talk radio or on the Internet , where coded language of `` quotas '' and `` boot-straps '' is used in substitution of the old phrases of `` ghettos '' and `` laziness . '' I read the Twitter feeds and troll the comment boards , listening to how those of like mind cluster together , reinforcing their own points of view .

But we 've got a black President , right ? It 's all good , right ?

Yes , racism , in less than a half-century , has largely gone from commonplace to taboo . If you are a 67-year-old beloved cooking show star who admits to having used the N-word , there are going to be consequences . If you own a nearly all-black NBA team yet verbalize a disgust for African-Americans , you 're going to get checked .

Today , any controversial statement , once exposed to the disinfectant of sunlight and mass media , gets met with immediate backlash . As it should .

Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling learned this firsthand when NBA Commissioner Adam Silver banned him for life . Cue applause , drop the mic , walk off the stage . We 're done .

Sure , we have come a long way . From the days when my father , a leading real estate inspector in Chicago , could n't live in certain areas or shop in certain stores , to today , when I can graduate from a leading university , enter the field of media , and truly believe I have a chance to exceed my dreams , a lot has changed .

But , for my generation , there are still real problems . We do n't truly understand our history . And too often do we go from captivated to uninterested overnight , distracted by the next shiny object or hot Internet meme .

We Millennials are the `` here today , gone tomorrow '' type of activists . This is most disappointing because access of information is easier than ever before . You no longer have to be rich or famous to have a voice . Just get a Twitter handle , post to your Instagram page or fire up a WordPress blog .

So the question becomes , what happens next ? We can not simply stand idly by celebrating surface victories while the problems persist . Racism , as with all other prejudices , has to be attacked at the source . It will not become extinct with the passing of the older generations . A new racist is born every minute .

I went to a largely white high school in the western suburbs of Chicago . When I was younger , maybe 10 or 11 , I got into a fight with a neighbor kid who had just called me that magic word -- the `` N '' word . That was in 2000 .

Parents intervened , the skirmish ceased , and each of us was swiftly scolded . Now it 's quite obvious where he learned the word . He was n't born saying it ; someone had to teach it to him .

That kid is much older now , also in his mid-20s . I have n't seen him since , but I wonder what 's in his head now ? Is he growing up to become the next Donald Sterling or Cliven Bundy or Paula Deen ? Or has time and society shifted his adolescent feelings about me and others like me ?

It must be remembered that racism is not an innate trait . It is a learned characteristic . We see it on TV . We hear it on the radio . We watch it coming from our parents . I just hope my generation has made that kind of an education a little less desirable .

Within our generation are the remnants of a time long past . Today , we live in an age of tolerance . Yet everything is moving 100 miles per hour . That 's one of the big differences between generations past and Millennials .

For us , technology is a given . But it 's also an opportunity . It provides an unprecedented level of exposure and opportunity to interact with others not like ourselves .

In our generation a six-second Vine clip has the potential to become the lead story on the news , and what we do at a party or a game or in school can be celebrated or scorned with the click of a `` Like '' button .

But we 've got next . There is a changing of the guard coming in our society , and our number is coming up .

So now , it falls upon a generation of young people to see the fight through . We are trapped in between two worlds , the new and the old . Our choices will shape the future . It is our duty as a generation to teach ourselves discipline . To know right from wrong , unacceptable from appropriate .

This wo n't be on Sterling 's generation . It will be on us .

It is our duty to wash out the ignorant tendencies of our forebears across the board , regardless of race . Dedication will be required , along with an attention span that lasts longer than 140 characters .

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Chuck Walton looks at the generational differences in racial attitudes in America

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Racism is a learned behavior , he says , that his generation must fight to unlearn

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Walton : Technology exposes us to new ideas but makes it easier for like thinkers to cluster